Apparatus for treating loose fibrous material



April 29, 1969 I FLEISSNER 3,440,843

APPARATUS FOR TREATING LOOSE FI BROUS MATERIAL Filed Sept. 21, 1965 Sheet of 2 Fig. 1

F ig.3

lnvenior:

65/2040 FLENM/VGZ April 29, 1969 G. FLEISSNER 3,440,843

APPARATUS FOR TREATING LOOSE FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Sept. 21, 1965 Sheet 2 of 2 lnvenior:

852010 mass/wee United States Patent Ofice 3,440,843 Patented Apr. 29, 1969 47,178 Int. Cl. D06f 29/00, 35/00, 17/02 U.S. Cl. 68-22 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to a process and apparatus for treating loose, fibrous material wherein said material is freely floated for a certain distance in a treatment bath, and brought into fleece form by conveying the same along a conveyance path subjected to a suction draft, said fleece being squeezed to remove the liquid, once it is outside the treatment bath. The apparatus of the present invention comprises at least one sieve drum subjected to a suction draft and immersed in a treatment liquid, said sieve drum serving as a conveying means for the material being treated. A large floating area can be provided in front of the sieve drum and a squeezing means can be arranged immediately behind the sieve drum.

The present invention relates to a device for the treatment, especially the wet treatment, of loose fibrous material, especially of raw wool, cotton, and man-made fibers (staple fibers).

It is a well known fact that uniform treatment, especially drying and scouring, of loose fibrous material is only possible if the material forms a uniform fleece. Apart from that, the processing time can be reduced if a uniform fleece is treated.

For forming a fleece and/ or for an approximately uniform feeding of the loose fibrous material, at present, the hopper feeder and the opener are used. However, it has been found that with these prior art devices an approximately uniform fleece can only be obtained if the fibrous material is uniformly fed to these devices. Since, in general, uniform material feed is not ensured to these prior art devices, the fleeces formed by these devices show holes and areas with only very little fibrous material.

In order to obtain an improved fleece of loose fibrous material, a device at the feeding end of a dryer has been suggested, by means of which the loose fibrous material is blown by an air current against one or two sieve drums subjected to a suction draft, so that the fibers adhere to the sieve drums by the suction draft and thus form a fleece. However, also with this prior art device, uniform feeding of the fibrous material is of importance. Also here nonuniform feeding results in an incoherent fleece.

A wet treatment of loose fibrous material in fleece form, especially scouring, is not at all possible with the known devices. Up to now so-called leviathan washing machines have been used for scouring loose fibrous material, especially raw wool, which machines work with several forks arranged one behind the other which transport the material through the treatment bath. The material is gradually pushed forward. Furthermore, tails are formed at the forks which render the scouring more diflicult and which, moreover, result in fiber breaking during the opening process.

Further a device is known in which perforated conveying means are used for transporting the wool through the treatment bath. The perforated conveying means are preferably sieve drums which rotate eccentrically and which,

when immersed, carry the material and push it forward in the bath. The transportation in the direction of material passage through the bath is also achieved with these prior art devices.

Another disadvantage of the known devices is that, after termination of the scouring process, material residues floating in the bath must be removed by hand which is timeconsuming and costly.

At the discharge end of the known devices, in general, a conveyor belt is arranged with feeds the fibrous material to a squeezing device. Depending on the way in which the wool or the other fibrous material is floated onto the conveyor belt, the material thickness on the conveyor belt varies. Thus, on the one hand, the material is excessively squeezed and, on the other hand, there is danger that, when pressing ofr and/or squeezing off the liquid, the lattice belt is damaged by material balls.

It is an object of the present invention to ensure an absolutely uniform and gentle treatment of loose fibrous material and to avoid the aforementioned disadvantages.

It has been found that an absolutely uniform and gentle treatment of loose fibrous material can only be achieved with a uniform and coherent fiber fleece.

In accordance with the present invention it is, therefore, proposed to float the loose fibrous material in a liquid, to form a fleece by means of the suction draft of perforated conveying means and to treat the fleece continuously and/ or to have it pass several treatment stages.

By floating the loose fibrous material in a liquid an absolutely uniform fiber fleece is formed even with a nonuniform feeding because the fleece thickness does no longer depend on the quantity of the material fed but because, with sufficient feeding, the fleece is formed only by the suction draft of the perforated conveying means, especially by a sieve drum subjected to a suction draft and immersing the drum into a liquid which suction draft sucks the fibers to the sieve drum jacket.

According to another feature of the present invention, a gentle uniform and intense wet treatment, especially cleaning of loose fibrous material is achieved by having the fleece of loose fibrous material freely float for a certain distance in the treatment bath and by having it subjected to a suction draft for another distance and having it carried by conveying means and preferably having it at least squeezed once outside the treatment bath. Due to the fact that the fiborus material can freely float for a certain distance in the treatment bath, there is enough time for the fibrous material to get soaked with the treatment liquid and to loosen the dirt particles. During the following process, i.e. when the treatment liquid is sucked through the fiber fleece, the dirt is removed from the fiber fleece. A further segregation and an intense cleaning effect are achieved by the squeezing of the fiber fleece. In general, several of these treatment baths are connected one behind the other in order to make it possible to repeat the afore-described treatment several times. It has been found that, by the fleece form, tailing of the fibrous material is avoided so that less fibers are broken during the subsequent opening or alternatively during the opening after the drying process and so that a better quality of the fibrous material than up to now is obtained.

For the formation of a uniform fleece in a liquid and as another feature of the present invention, a device is suggested with a container filled with liquid and a sieve drum subjected to a suction draft which sieve drum immerses into the liquid, as well as a squeezing unit which preferably is arranged immediately behind the sieve drum. In front of the sieve drum a sufficiently large floating area should be available in order to make sure that the loose fibers float well and uniformly in the liquid. By a uniform suction draft existing over the whole working width of the sieve drum, the loose fibrous material is uniformly sucked to the sieve drum. Thus a coherent fleece of uniform thickness is formed. Fleece formation is facilitated by the fact that the wet fiber is smoother than a dry fiber. The thickness of the fleece depends solely on the power of the suction draft.

As another feature of the present invention it is suggested to connect a hopper feeder or an opener as a feeding device in front of the device for the formation of the fleece. If the device is used for man-made fibers, the cutting device for the formation of the staple fibers can be connected in front of the device as a feeding device. Instead of these devices also a conveyor belt may serve as a feeding device or may be used in addition thereto. It is possible to put the loose fibrous material into the bath by hand.

According to another object of the present invention and with a device for the wet treatment, especially scouring, of loose fibrous material it is suggested to facilitate the transportation of the fibrous material through the treatment bath by means of a device which creates a flow in the direction of material passage in the bath. In accord ance with another feature of the present invention this device may consist of at least one sieve drum subjected to a suction draft and partly immersed into the treatment liquid which sieve drum serves for guiding or removing the material and a piping system and/or a channel by means of which the treatment liquid sucked off is at least partially returned into the bath at the side of the bath and/or at the material intake.

In order to avoid a disturbance of the treatment bath and the formation of foam when returning the treatment liquid sucked off into the treatment bath, it is further suggested to close the channel for returning the treatment liquid into the bath on all sides and to provide the channel, over the entire length thereof preferably the bottom, with perforations.

In accordance with another object of the present invention the pumps for creating the suction draft are arranged inside the sieve drum as are also one or several baffle and partition plates which form a suction area in the sieve drum in the range of which suction area the material floating on the treatment liquid is sucked to the sieve drum jacket and transported by the sieve drum preferably to a squeezing device.

A pair of squeeze rollers may be arranged next to the sieve drum. However, it is also possible that between sieve drum and the appertaining pair of squeeze rollers a delivery chute is arranged so that the squeeze rollers are arranged outside the treatment liquid and that the delivery chute separates and seals the bath from the squeeze rollers. The delivery chute almost reaches to the liquid level. The part of the chute directed to the squeeze rollers may be perforated in order to remove part of the liquid sucked into the fleece before the fleece reaches the squeeze rollers. Below the squeeze rollers a collecting vessel with a pump is arranged by means of which the liquid is returned into the treatment bath.

Further it is of advantage to connect the pumps in the sieve drums with the battle and partition plates arranged therein. The pump axes are arranged perpendicular to the baffle plates. The bafile and partition plates should be parallel to the sieve drum axis, be stationary during operation, and be arranged adjustable for setting the suction area.

According to another object of the present invention and for removing the liquid sucked in, a pressure chamber is formed by the bafl le and partition plates above the suction area. It is of advantage if the pressure chamber is provided with openings, which can possibly be closed, preferably in at least one of the sides adjacent to the sieve drum jacket. The liquid emerging thereat cleans the sieve drums continuously and prevents that fibrous material adheres to the sieve drums which material might destroy the uniform fiber fleece.

According to another object of the present invention the drum may be connected immediately in front of a squeezing device, that is no delivery chute is connected therebetween. In that case it is of advantage if the sieve drum appertaining to the squeezing device is mounted in a swivelling manner and thus is preferably out of its stable equilibrium in such a way that a pressure is exerted by gravity onto the material between the sieve drum and the lower roller of the squeezing device. Thus, part of the treatment liquid is squeezed out of the material so that, when squeezing the material in the squeezing device, less liquid flows onto the material fed to the squeezing device.

By reason of the fact that the squeezing device is connected immediately behind the sieve drum and by reason of the fact that, according to another feature of the invention, the suction area of the sieve drum almost reaches the bath level at least on the squeezing side, part of the liquid is sucked off before the material reaches the squeezing rollers. A floating off by the water flowing back from the squeezing device is avoided. Thus it is even possible to provide the lower roller of the squeezing device, which roller usually has a rough surface, with a smooth surface which ensures an essentially gentler treatment of the fibrous material in the squeezing device. However, the possible use of a roller with a smooth surface may also be attributed to the fact that, in accordance with the present invention, more than half of the lower roller lies below the liquid level, and that the material fed by the sieve drum pushes the material in front into the squeeze rollers.

Up to now it has been usual to transport the loose fibrous material by way of conveyor belts from one scouring bath into the next when using several scouring baths arranged one behind the other and when using these scouring baths for loose fibrous material.

This conveyor belt between two baths may be eliminated if according to the present invention the partition wall which separates the two treatment baths from each other is arranged below the lower roller of the squeezing device and if it is sealed against the lower roller, at least when using different treatment liquids. Sealing can be simply done by means of a sealing strip which is fastened to the upper edge of the partition wall and which is reinforced by means of a tube or another sectional rod and pressed against the lower roller of the squeezing device by spring action or weights. Also if a delivery chute is used the conveyor belt can be eliminated.

According to another significant feature of the present invention, a perforated intermediate bottom is arranged in the bath which bottom divides the bath into a treatment space and a lower settling container and the device for returning the liquid is designed in such a way that at least part of the liquid sucked off is returned into the upper treatment space through the intermediate bottom. Thus a slight upward flow is created in this space which prevents a removal and sinking down of the fibers from the fiber fleece in the floating area and which, above all, enables automatic cleaning of the treatment bath.

For cleaning the bath, the device is not stopped after termination of the scouring process before all fibers have been floated to the sieve drum which removes the material and before all fibers have passed the squeezing device.

In the following, the present invention is again explained and supplemented with the help of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view on the device according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the device according to FIGS. 1 and 2, taken through the axis of the last sieve drum along line 3-3 of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of another device according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section of the device according to FIG. 4, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a device for forming a uniform, coherent fiber fleece.

The device shown in FIGS. l-3 consists of a container 1 which is filled with a treatment liquid 2. Eccentrically mounted sieve drums 4 serve for transporting a fibrous material 3 to be processed.

At the end of a bath, a sieve drum 6 subjected to a suction draft and concentrically mounted is arranged for removing the fibrous material 3 from the liquid 2 in the form of a uniform fiber fleece and for feeding it to a pair of squeeze rollers 5. The suction draft is created by pumps 7 arranged; in sieve drum 6 and is passed on by way of a pressure chamber 9 formed by means of baffle and partition plates 8 to a lateral channel 110. In this lateral channel 10 part of the liquid sucked off is returned to the intake of the bath and from there by way of a perforated chute 12 extending over the whole working width into the bath.

One part of the liquid can temporarily or constantly be returned into the bath by way of another channel 11 (FIG. 3) preferably below the sieve drum 6. This offers the advantage that in the bath an upward flow or a flow toward the sieve drum 6 is created which returns any sinking down fibrous material 3 to the sieve drum 6 and by means of the sieve drum '6 to the squeeze rollers 5. By more or less opening the channel 11 the flow in the bath can be s'et'to the most favorable value. The liquid returned tothe intake of the bath creates a fiow which floats the fibrous material 3 to the first sieve drum 4.

The drive (not shown) for the pumps 7 may be arranged outside the sieve drum 6 and be connected with the pumps 7 by way of a V-belt 13 (FIG. 3). However, it is also feasible that each pump 7 is provided with a drive and/or an electromotor which, in that case, is accommodated immediately above the pumps in the sieve drums. Instead of the pumps 7 arranged in the sieve drum 6 any other suitable suction device, possibly provided outside the sieve drum, can be used.

By suitably setting and/or swivelling the baffle and partition plates 8, the suction chamber '14 in the sieve drum 6 can be varied. It is of advantage if the sieve drum 6 is mounted in a swivelling manner about an axis 15 outside of its normal equilibrium so that its weight presses against the roller 5, as shown in FIG. 1.

For automatically cleaning the drum 6, openings 16 which possibly can be closed by means of a slider or shutter are provided in the pressure chamber 9 formed by the partition plates 8, i.e. on the bath side, preferably above the liquid level. The treatment liquid streams out through these openings 16, i.e. from inside to outside through the perforation of the sieve drum and floats away residual fibers adhering to the sieve drum 6. Prefer ably the sieve drum 6 is covered by a fine wire mesh.

It is of advantage to place half or more than half of the lower squeeze roller 5 below the liquid level because in this way the pair of rollers 5 can be connected directly behind the sieve drum 6 without providing a conveyor belt between the bath and the squeeze rollers as was necessary up to now. The lower squeeze roller 5 may with this arrangement also have a'smooth surface since the sieve drum in front transports the material to the squeeze rollers 5.

In general several treatment baths will be connected one behind the other. Another conveyor belt between the squeeze rollers and the treatment bath connected downstream can be saved with this device since a partition wall 17 between two baths is situated immediately below the lower squeeze roller 5. For sealing the baths, the upper edge of the partition wall 17 is provided with a sealing strip 19, reinforced by means of a tube 18, which strip is pressed against the lower squeeze roller 5 by means of a weight 20 mounted slidably on a lever 21.

Since the material, when leaving the last sieve drum 4 until reaching the sieve drum 6 subjected to a suction draft, floats on the bath surface, a uniform coherent fleece of material 3 can be formed by sieve drum 6, if this has not been achieved by a preceding sieve drum, which fleece can be uniformly squeezed by the squeeze rollers 5.

The formation of a uniform fleece depends solely on the sieve drum 6 subjected to a suction draft. The fleece is consequently also formed if instead of the sieve drum 4 connected upstream of drum 6, other conveying means such as forks or rakes are used.

In the devices according to FIGS. 4-6 the same parts as in the device according to FIGS. 13 are marked with the same reference numerals.

In the device according to FIGS. 4 and 5, a concentrically mounted sieve drum '22 subjected to a suction draft and partially immersed in a treatment liquid 2 is provided as a conveying means. The design of this sieve drum 22 as well as of sieve drum 6 at the end of container 1 corresponds essentially to the design of the sieve drum 6 of the device according to FIGS. 13. Loose fibrous material 3 floats in a floating area 23 and is formed into a fiber fleece by the sieve drum 22. The loose fibrous material floats then in fleece form to the sieve drum 6 which passes it on to squeeze rollers 5 by way of a delivery chute 24. With the device shown, a particularly gentle but very intense cleaning effect can be obtained. Within the floating areas 23 and 23 the dirt particles are loosened from the fibers and are removed from the fibrous material at the sieve drums by the treatment liquid. The treatment liquid 2 enriched with the contaminations and sucked in by pumps 7 is led through a pressure chamber 9 into a lateral channel 25 (FIG. 5). This channel 25 extends preferably over the whole length of the bath. The channel 25 is closed on all sides and provided with perforations preferably only at the bottom so that the sucked off treatment liquid is uniformly returned into the treatment bath over the whole length of the bath.

The container 1 is divided into an upper treatment chamber 27 and a lower settling space 28 by means of a perforated intermediate bottom 26. At the lowest point of the settling space 28 a worm conveyor 29 is provided for carrying away the contaminations which have settled down.

With this device the delivery chute 24 is used as a sealing means between the bath and the squeeze rollers 5. Below the squeeze roller 5 there is a collecting vessel 30 for the liquid squeezed off. The liquid collected in vessel 30 is returned into the treatment bath by means of a conventional pump (not shown).

The device shown in FIG. 6 has the purpose of forming an absolutely uniform fiber fleece. In a container 1 filled with liquid, a floating area 23 is provided in front of a sieve drum 6 subjected to a suction draft and a pair of squeeze rollers 5 is arranged behind the sieve drum 6. By the suction draft in the sieve drum 6, the fibrous material 3 floated in the treatment liquid 2 is thickened into a uniform, coherent fleece 31 of uniform thickness. By means of a pair of squeeze rollers 5 almost all liquid 2 is pressed out of the fleece 31 and the fleece is then transported by way of a conveyor belt 33 to a treatment device connected behind, i.e. downstream of the device of this figure. The treatment device connected downstream may be a wet processing device as well as a dryer. The advantages of a uniform fiber fleece are of utmost importance for a perfect quality of the end product regardless of whether drying or a wet treatment is involved.

I claim:

1. A device for the wet-treatment, especially for scouring loose, fibrous material such as fatty wool particles, cotton and staple fibers or the like, which comprises container means filled with a treatment liquid and effectively constituting at least one floating distance, at least one conveying means rotatably disposed within the container means facilitating said wet-treatment and operable to transport the material through the threatment liquid, said conveying means including at least one sieve drum means subjected to a suction draft and being partially immersed in the treatment liquid, means for creating a flow in the direction of material passage within said container including at least one sieve drum means subjected to a suction draft which serves simultaneously for material guidance and material removal and is partially immersed in the treatment liquid, at least one of said aforementioned sieve drum means containing pump means, baffle plate means, and partition plate means which form a suction area in the sieve drum means wherein within the range of said area the material floating in the treatment liquid is drawn to the sieve drum jacket, said pump means being operatively connected with the bafile plate means and partition plate means and the pump axis of said pump means being substantially perpendicular to the baflie plate means, squeeze means disposed downstream of said conveying means and means including conduit means for drawing off the treatment liquid and at least partially returning the same to the container means along the side thereof or at the material inlet.

2. A device according to claim 1, in which said conduit means for returning the treatment liquid into the bath is closed on all sides and in which the whole length of the conduit means is provided at the bottom thereof with perforations.

3. A device according to claim 1, in which the bafiie and partition plate means are arranged substantially parallel to the sieve drum axis and in which the bafiie and partition plate means are stationary during operation but include adjustable means for adjusting the suction area, with the battle and partition plate means forming a pressure chamber above the suction area.

4. A device according to claim 3, in which the pressure chamber is provided with openings including means for closing said openings, the latter being located in at least one of the sides adjacent to the sieve drum jacket of a respective sieve drum means.

5. A device according to claim 1, in which the bath is provided with a perforated intermediate bottom which divides the bath into an upper treatment space and a lower settling container and in which at least part of the liquid sucked off is returned into the upper treatment space through the intermediate bottom.

6. A device for the wet-treatment especially for forming the uniform fleece of loose, fibrous material, especially raw wool, cotton and man-made fibers which comprises container means filled with a treatment liquid and effectively forming at least one floating distance, at least one perforated conveying means including sieve drum means subjected to a suction draft partially immersed in said treatment liquid, means operatively associated with said sieve drum means for producing said suction draft within said sieve drum means, squeezing means having an upper and lower roller arranged immediately downstream of the last sieve drum means and support means for pivotably supporting the sieve drum means associating with the squeezing means in such a manner as to be out of its stable equilibrium so that a pressure is exerted by gravity on the material between the sieve drum means and the lower roller of the squeezing means.

7. A device according to claim 6, further comprising a delivery chute between one of said sieve drum means and the appertaining pair of squeeze rollers forming part of said squeezing means.

8. A device according to claim 7, in which the part of the chute directed towards the squeeze rollers is perforated, and in which the delivery chute serves as a sealing between bath and squeeze rollers.

9. A device according to claim 6, in which a floating area is provided in front of at least one sieve drum means subjected to a suction draft.

10. A device according to claim 6, in which the lower roller of the squeezing means has a smooth surface, and in which more than half of the lower roller lies below the liquid level.

11. A device according to claim 10, in which a further treatment bath is connected downstream of said firstmentioned bath, partition wall means arranged below the lower roller of the squeezing means and sealing means for sealing said partition wall means against the lower roller at least when using different treatment liquids.

12. A device according to claim 11, wherein said sealing means includes a sealing strip reinforced by means of a section member, which is fastened to the upper edge of the partition wall means, and means for pressing said sealing strip against the lower roller of the squeezing means.

References Cited OTHER REFERENCES German printed application 1, 118, 734, December 1961, Fleissner.

WILLIAM 1. PRICE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 68158, 184 

